Movie release dates are hardly ever set in stone, but it looks like Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro’s first intallment in the two-part adaptation of “The Hobbit” will be released in December 2012. The second movie is scheduled for a December 2013 release. Early reports indicated a December 2011 release for the first movie, but it now looks like that was just wishful thinking.
For those of you who know nothing about “The Hobbit,” it is a prequel for J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” saga. You know, the book series that inspired a few movies a while back that grossed just under $3 billion (US) worldwide?
Jackson has a rumored budget of $300 million (US) to make both movies. Confirmed cast members coming back to Middle Earth include Ian McKellen (Gandalf), Hugo Weaving (Elrond) and Andy Serkis (Gollum).
Maybe I am just another fanboy whining… but if you shoot both movies back to back, do you really need to make us wait a year between film releases? C’mon guys… release the second movie in the summer of 2013 and make me happy!
By Sci-Guy-Mike
April 29th, 2010 - 7:51 am
I’m going to get in early, and go out on a limb here and say I think this movie will disappoint.
Honestly, there is no reason that the Hobbit should be a two parter.
I love the hobbit, and it is a great book. But I think a great part of its charm is that it is essentially young adult fantasy fiction, with several higher concepts interlaced. Those concepts were taken to their “high fantasy” conclusion in TLOR, but to me, that isn’t what the Hobbit is about.
To me breaking it in to two movies won’t serve the story well at all. And having to wait between them? How about just a few months instead of a full year?
And if this is made in 3D John will probably have an aneurysm.
April 29th, 2010 - 12:07 pm
Some of the original stories about why the movie would be a two-parter indicated that the first was to be the actual story told in “The Hobbit” and the second would be a bridge movie between “The Hobbit” and LOTR. The bridge movie has been abandoned, and we are getting nothing but “The Hobbit” story.
I don’t believe that this movie is going to be in 3D, but we shall see. By the time these movies are in theaters, 3D movies will cost $20 to watch (even though the technology to make them will not be as expensive as it is now…).